US Treasury yields, oil prices fall

All three major New York indexes rise overnight

Foreigners turn net buyers for first time in 8 sessions

An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Friday. [Yonhap]
An employee works at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Friday. [Yonhap]

The Kospi surged more than 2% in early trading Friday, reclaiming the 6,800 level, as an overnight rally on Wall Street combined with falling US Treasury yields and crude oil prices spurred buying. Foreign investors, who had been net sellers for seven consecutive sessions, also turned net buyers in early trade, fueling hopes of a return to the 7,000 mark.

As of 9:40 a.m., the Kospi stood at 6,861.61, up 2.18% from the previous session. The index had opened up 2.54% at 6,885.70.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the two largest stocks by market cap, both advanced, leading the broader index higher.

Samsung Electronics was trading up 2.67% at 259,250 won ($188) per share. SK hynix surged 4.36% to 1.82 million won at the same time.

Most other large-cap names also gained, including Samsung Electronics preferred shares (up 1.91%), SK Square (3.27%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (4.81%), LG Energy Solution (0.55%) and Hyundai Motor (1.79%).

All three major US stock indexes closed higher Thursday, with a sharp rebound in US semiconductor stocks spilling over into the domestic market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61%, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ gained 1.14% and 1.69%, respectively.

Falling US Treasury yields and crude oil prices also encouraged buying. The Bank of England held its benchmark interest rate at 3.75%, which helped pull down government bond yields globally, with US rates also easing somewhat. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, which had briefly topped the psychological threshold of 5% in the previous session, retreated to the 4.9% range.

International oil prices continued to fall as concerns over Saudi Arabian supply disruptions eased. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for October delivery settled down 0.51% at $101.91 per barrel.

Technology stocks also strengthened, with Nvidia rising 2.54% and Micron Technology climbing 5.50%, pushing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 3.14%. SK hynix's American depositary receipts gained 4.64%.

By investor type, retail investors were net sellers of 526.8 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of 81.3 billion won and 274.2 billion won, respectively. Foreigners had been net sellers for seven straight sessions but shifted to modest net buying in early trade Friday.

Other corporations — which have emerged as a major market force recently due to large-scale buybacks by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — were net buyers of 192.4 billion won on the Kospi.

The Kosdaq rose 0.90% to 829.61 at the same time. Top market-cap stocks including Alteogen (up 1.18%), Ecopro (0.12%), Ecopro BM (2.04%), Jusung Engineering (1.47%) and Rainbow Robotics (1.87%) all advanced.

On the Kosdaq, retail investors were net sellers of 27.4 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors were net buyers of 27.2 billion won and 2.5 billion won, respectively.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said macro uncertainty appears to be peaking around the September FOMC meeting. "It is worth noting that the market's sensitivity to the high-rate environment — including the 10-year US Treasury yield breaking above 5% — is beginning to ease," Han said.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com